Pages

Thursday, April 24, 2014

The United States was, is, and probably will be all about
big cars.Sure some cars made in the US
may be smaller these days, and there are some imports, but over in other parts
of the world, small was usually the way to go.That is no different for this little 1961 Austin
A40 Farina Mark I.That is quite a
mouthful.Regardless, that is what we
have here in the group of cars known as the Gabel Collection.

This car was purchased by the owner from a lawyer, sight
unseen.After he purchased it, he
realized there was quite a bit of rust in and on the car.For that reason, and other poor condition
reasons, he parked the car and laughed at it for three straight months.After that, he began to drive it and like
it.While the car seems small on the
outside, there was quite a bit a storage space on the inside, and that was
useful for the owner.

It wasn’t all that bad; this was a small car with a small 948cc engine.Sure it made only about 28 horsepower, but
small car plus small engine equals good gas millage.The current owner described it as “terrific”.Back in the day, this car was said to get 38 imperial
miles per gallon, which equals about 32 miles per gallon in the US.

After a while, this car began to sit.The original rust problem definitely did not
get better.As you can see, the front
and sides of the hood is pretty much nonexistent.There is rust under the car, inside, and in
quite a few other locations.You can
even see daylight through the driver side floor/wall.That is not something you want to see.

Even after all this neglect, all this sitting, all this
rust, deterioration, and all this abandonment, she still fired right up.It probably would even be able to go for a
drive.With the current state of the
rust and flaking paint, you may not come back with as much of the car as you
left with, but you could still go for a drive none the less.For now, it’s not going for a drive.It just sits here rotting in style.

Want updates about new posts?Have questions?Follow
and tweet us @therandomauto!